The Fiero-ing: A new adventure in my life

"themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles" (themanwithsauce) 03/10/2019 at 23:12 • Filed to: None

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This is a story of my saturday. A story that begins with a missed breakfast and ends with a hard fought victory. That victory? A surprisingly clean 1985 Pontiac Fiero. It was just my best friend and I doing this little mis-adventure and I finally get to tell the story of it all.

First things first, let’s put a picture to the car I’ve been talking about:

Real beaut, right? A bone-stock 1985 fiero, 4 cylinder 5-speed, with no A/C hookup, no sunroof, and no other options. This is as base as base got for 1985. It does need a new seat, but that’s relatively easy to do all things considered.

Unfortunately, getting her on a trailer was more difficult than we imagined. The car was literally frozen to the ground. The car fired up, but the clutch wouldn’t engage (probably a blown slave cylinder/line) so we couldn’t move it. An d then when we finally broke it free, the rear passenger tire wouldn’t spin freely. Why?

This. Motherfucking. Stuck. Caliper. The pad has fused to the disc over the past few years. No hot water, hammer blows, or chiseling, got it undone. I smashed my thumb with a rubber mallet trying to get it unstuck. It took a TORCH to get it done. We ended up putting in a fresh battery to drive it out via the starter motor. This then resulted in us also using the starter to get it on the trailer. Well......after much issue getting a trailer backed into a narrow driveway and us slipping and falling on the ice repeatedly trying to get the traction to push it.

It should be noted that this was several hours behind schedule at this point. I was planning on being home by 10:00 PM. This meant the Fiero would be in my friend’s garage by 8:00 PM so I can drive home and be there by 10. The car was hitched up around 7:00 PM and we had a 4 hour drive just to get to the garage. So yeah......fun.....Oh, and we also hit freezing rain so our 9:30 PM dinner involved much ice

But after so, so many miles, and so much drama, we finally made it home. We played “shuffle the driveway” to make some room for it, and we were able to get it onto the driveway.....but not up the whole ramp.

It took much pushing, and many pulled muscles and pain, but we got it done. She now rests in a garage and will be worked on over the course of spring (that’s it on the other side of the RX-8...it looked clearer at night)

So yeah, there’s the story. Welcome to the beginning of my Fiero journey.

gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 03/10/2019 at 23:16

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Nice. I've been semi looking for one recently. Doesn't seem to be too many around here any more. 

Alfalfa > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 03/10/2019 at 23:22

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Nice! So...

Supercharged 3800 swap happening when?

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > Alfalfa 03/10/2019 at 23:23

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Never. Too basic.

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee 03/10/2019 at 23:24

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This car came about because I searched a random county near me for sub 1000$ cars as a response to a jalopnik post -  https://jalopnik.com/show-us-the-coolest-car-on-your-local-craigslist-for-5-1831120919

Chariotoflove > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 03/10/2019 at 23:32

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Oooo, this is gonna be fun. I’d like to see the planned schedule of work. 

JeepJeremy > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 03/10/2019 at 23:35

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Damn! That car is so fucking cool! This is perfect Oppo! You’ve really worked for this. I hope it brings you great joy!

shop-teacher > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 03/10/2019 at 23:39

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That really is surprisingly clean.

I’m liking the idea of getting one of these to Rallycross, whenever I can afford to replace the RallyMetro. Hopefully next year.

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > Chariotoflove 03/10/2019 at 23:46

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Brakes all around first, then repairing the clutch actuation so we can see if it really needs a new clutch or if it just blew a line or slave cylinder. Then a new driver’s seat, then the body repairs. It’s great at 20 feet, but it’s rough at 5-10. Every panel has one or two flaws. Also the lights are stuck open.

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > shop-teacher 03/10/2019 at 23:48

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It’s happened before...

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > JeepJeremy 03/10/2019 at 23:50

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I have so many little injuries and pulled muscles from yesterday. The Fiero is almost as heavy as my old Fiesta ST. The Fiesta had twice the power and an extra gear. 

Dusty Ventures > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 03/10/2019 at 23:57

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Protip: when moving a car always bring ratchet straps. Cheap impromptu winch

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 03/10/2019 at 23:59

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Very cool, looking forward to this one - that’s in really nice shape!

Longtime Lurker > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 03/11/2019 at 00:00

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Man all this love and attention towards Fieros on Oppo lately have me remembering the $100 ‘84 I passed on buying when I was 15. It was a insurance writeoff, running driving only needed a hood and an inspection and it came with a used hood. But I declined because I had no d rivers l icense, no off-street parking, and no job to pay for repairs, insurance, or gas, and working on a project car in the middle of Canadian winter didn’t sound appealing .

lone_liberal > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 03/11/2019 at 00:00

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LS4? Caddy 500? Olds 455? VQ35? Hayabusa!

shop-teacher > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 03/11/2019 at 00:05

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That looks incredible!

Chariotoflove > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 03/11/2019 at 00:06

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I noticed that. Is it just  bad motors, or is something bent that has them stuck open?

E92M3 > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 03/11/2019 at 00:14

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Yes! This is what OPPO is all about!

Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 03/11/2019 at 00:18

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Awesome! The is good oppo.

Careful with the starter motor trick.  Works great, but I lost one from using it once too many times.  (Three.... it was three times)  Might have been a coincidence.

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > Dusty Ventures 03/11/2019 at 00:36

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That idea was brought up, but the stuck wheel prevented good movement on/off the trailer

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > Chariotoflove 03/11/2019 at 00:36

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No clue yet. 

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > lone_liberal 03/11/2019 at 00:36

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Iron Duke. It keeps the base engine. 

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo 03/11/2019 at 00:37

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Thankfully, the iron duke is easy to work on and starters are cheap. If a 50$ starter keeps me from needing to spend another weekend doing this? It was worth it.

lone_liberal > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 03/11/2019 at 00:40

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The most surprising choice! Nice.

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > E92M3 03/11/2019 at 00:49

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It’s my first ever true project car - a car bought solely to have as a second car and not fix ed to drive to work the next day.

Nauraushaun > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 03/11/2019 at 02:03

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That’s very cool. Seems to have a lot more character than the MR2 of the era. I feel American manufacturers usually don’t know what to do with a smaller car, but they done good!

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > Nauraushaun 03/11/2019 at 02:12

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The Fiero was a compromised design - originally meant to be a driver oriented economy car, the design shifted towards sports car as the years went on because the MR2 was purely a sports car. I think the Fiero rides too many lines to be good in any particular category, but I do like how it represents a domestic manufacturer thinking differently again.

gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 03/11/2019 at 02:48

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Yeah it’s funny how that works. The last three vehicles I bought weren’t things I w as deliberately looking for. I was window shopping XJs when I found the five-speed ZJ, my little MJ came up in a fb group 200 miles away and I said screw it, I’m taking the ZJ on an adventure. Saint Jimmy was a similar thing, saw it “ please make it go away”   levels of cheap, figured hey, if it starts and runs, it’s only 16 years old with 150,000 miles, how broken can it really be?

Nauraushaun > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 03/11/2019 at 04:15

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I thought it shifted towards sports car because that’s what people were expecting from the Fieros and they were disappointing people. And the engines were failing due to being driven sportingly . It seems like an absurd oversight to create what is clearly  a sports car, and under-do it with economy bits to such an extent that it’s a disappointment.

Sketch > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 03/11/2019 at 04:29

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Don’t forget the nylon timing gear will generally shear off by 150,000 miles. The pre-1987/88 Iron Duke is really not a great engine.

BTW, you have an ‘84 rear decklid, and I think your wheels have been repainted (or are non-original) . I w onder what other non-original surprises it may hold.

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > Nauraushaun 03/11/2019 at 09:18

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Welcome to 60s/70s/80s GM - Nothing can compete with the corvette. Nothing. The brass would not HAVE another sports car in their own lineup. 

Duck Duck Grey Duck FTMFW! > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 03/11/2019 at 09:19

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WOO!!!!!

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > Sketch 03/11/2019 at 09:24

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The wheels were definitely repainted. You remove the center caps and they’re white while they’re silver otherwise. I think he also put the chrome wheel rings from a similar era van on them. Not too concerned with originality though. I have a 2000$ build/buy budget and this car has 120k miles on it. I just want something neat to toodle around in during the summer months that also isn’t 100% forgettable. I will give the engine a thorough going over though. He had a rebuilt iron duke from a car that was in a wreck on his property. As in....he had the wreck on his property and had the paperwork from the rebuild. Might pick it up, but the engine fired just fine so I’m okay with it for now.

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > Duck Duck Grey Duck FTMFW! 03/11/2019 at 09:25

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Greanted, at the end of the day I was like !!!! !OOW, but now I too, can go WOO!!!!!

JeepJeremy > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 03/11/2019 at 09:51

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you’ll laugh about the pain and injuries later!

I’m not sure how you’ll feel about the Fiero’s power down the road....but you sure will look COOL

Therealjameson > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 03/11/2019 at 10:55

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Is the beginning of every fiero Resurrection.  Mine are on public display at YouTube.com/randomcentralstation

MrDronen > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 03/11/2019 at 10:58

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Hey. Congratulations on a really great find. I have a 1988 that is my daily driver. I’m 5'11", 66yrs old ,250lbs. Ya should see me getting in and out. But,once in the drivers seat,more leg room than believeable. Mine is also the budget version,but it does have air. 4cyl,5speed. 4wheel disc brakes.

I have nothing but praises for this little piece of history. Fix her up,drive her with some respect for an old gal of her vintage,and she'll give you years of fun,and loads of looks at the gas station when the youngsters ask"hey man,WHAT IS THAT?"

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > MrDronen 03/11/2019 at 11:02

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Yeah I’m 6'2" and 250 so getting in and out is an adventure, but the seating position is perfect. The designers purposely used that lack of engine up front to push the “firewall” way out front for more legroom so us tall guys can enjoy it.

TeamPunkassRacing > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 03/11/2019 at 11:21

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I was just watching some videos on YouTube of a guy who pulled one of these out of a field after 20 years and is getting it back to being road worthy.

I had an ‘86 2M4 SE - sadly the motor ended up blowing because I did not check the oil, and the valve cover was leaking very badly.

V8Fiero > JeepJeremy 03/11/2019 at 15:04

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If you don’t like the power, check into a V8 Archie kit.

V8Fiero > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 03/11/2019 at 15:09

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A 5. 7 liter v8 would make corvette owners sit up and take notice.

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > V8Fiero 03/11/2019 at 15:32

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Easy now, they might fall out of their lawn chairs if they stand up too quick. 

BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 03/11/2019 at 22:04

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Regarding the discussion of Fiero’s design and origins, f rom what I’ve read, the premise from the late 1970s was to build an affordable sports car with low running costs and good economy, like the Porsche 914 and Fiat X1/9.

It used a steel space-frame, sort of like an early form of monocoque made out of welded steel. Sort of like a unitized body (unibody), minus the “body”, since none of it would be a surface-finished panel... all the surface panels would be mounted to it, and be made of plastic.

This was shortly after John Z. DeLorean, former Pontiac executive, left and made his sports car with a space frame design (but backwards... steel X-frame and fiberglass spaceframe under stainless steel body panels... which was too heavy and not dent resistant.)

As people have mentioned... GM execs did NOT want anything even close to a Corvette competitor, let alone something that would undercut the C4. They may still have been a little skittish after Nader’s job on Corvair.

Same reason why the original Pontiac Banshee concept never made it to market, YEARS before the C3's design was finalized and more affordable than C2 Corvette with an inline 6 engine later used in Pontiac Sprint-trim models.

So Pontiac had to basically push the project for approval as an economy car, and focus on parts-bin cost saving, fewer parts count of having the drivetrain in the back (shorter exhaust, etc...) and “efficient”, rather than performance-oriented drivetrain... so Iron Duke, Chevette front parts, Citation parts in the back, small brakes, etc.. Anything to cut costs to maximize profits, and appear like an economy car.

Once approved, and on the market, it becomes easier to make a case for upgrades, and despite an issue with some fuel line insulation that resulted in some fires (Something high-dollar Ferraris and other supercars have also dealt with) gave the reputation a hit... but the 2M6 and GT variants with the 2.8 V6 started to actually deliver on what the original design.

Pontiac started actually putting it in performance settings after it made it to market... like the Indy 500 Pace Car, and the PPG pace car examples, and even some IMSA racing.

Nauraushaun > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 03/11/2019 at 22:27

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:(

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. 03/11/2019 at 22:32

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I can’t remember if you saw the older post or not, but one of my college professors was one of the scientists that helped pontiac pick out the body panel materials for the Fiero project. Honestly, the Fiero moved GM ahead in technology, even if the car itself wasn’t a smash hit. The panels are NOT made of the same material. Each one uses a certain grade/blend of plastic for the specific flex and expansion properties they needed. Then a special paint system was made (I believe single stage?) that would be the same color and have the same adhesion properties on all of them. Honestly, this helped them understand composite materials and synthetic non-metallic materials so much better than simple lab tests ever could’ve.

Between that, the transaxle technology, the packaging improvements, the interior design, and more, GM went into the 90s and the Saturn project with a LOT better ground to stand on. I’d argue the 90s are going to be looked at as a true zenith for GM thanks in no small part to the cars like this from the 80s that forced them to learn new ideas and technologies. No matter how  you look at the Fiero, it was a half-improvised and half-compromised idea. But damn did it do a lot of good for GM. No matter how hard they tried to deny it.

BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 03/11/2019 at 23:17

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Agreed, and I did see your previous post. It was very interesting stuff. Most people wouldn’t think that different parts require distinctly different properties in terms of plastic composition.

Trackrat > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 03/12/2019 at 08:21

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I’m not in a lawnchair yet and I have 2. However, I would certainly take notice!  Since they were new I’ve wanted a Fiero particularly the Formula. Sadly, I believe I want the Formula mostly for the paint.

TRivet > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 03/12/2019 at 08:46

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Nice find - super fun cars to drive, easy to work on, parts are readily available, and they can easily be modded of you are looking for more performance.

This is my 87 GT. Mostly stock, with a few mods. Next will be a V8  conversion.  

Snuze: Needs another Swede > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 03/12/2019 at 09:52

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Very cool car. I’ve always thought they were neat and didn’t get enough respect. But you’re totally right in that it was a car with a lot of compromises.

I love that you want to keep the original engine. The Iron Duke was a little workhorse. In the Fiero is it called a Tech-IV? I know around the mid-80s GM converted the Iron Dukes to TBI and renamed them Tech-IV, but I’m not sure what the Fiero actually had. In case you’re not aware, there are some interesting Iron Duke upgrades out there - these engines were (maybe still are?) used in one of the NASCAR feeder series, maybe ARCA or something. Pontaic themselves made the Super Duty-IV (SD4) which was a stroked out version in 2.7 and 3.2L guises (I can’t imagine how much a 3.2L 4 banger would shake, rattle, and roll...). I believe they sold crate engines (at least the 2.7L version) and parts to do the conversion on your own engine. Arias also made some parts, and there’s apparently a Cosworth 16v DOHC conversion out there as well. So if you want a little more pep from your Duke, you got some options. 

Have fun!

Bozo > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 03/12/2019 at 11:29

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As to the transport of the Fiero, would you wince if I suggested winch?